Time for a New Tradition

Well, today’s the big day. Will this year’s receipt totals prove that our economy is finally on the mend? Personally, I don’t partake in the consumerist hysteria surrounding Black Friday. Yes, I realize there are great deals out there. Yes, I know that shopping is synonomous with the holiday season. No, I’m not against capitalism. I just don’t get supercharged about rising hours before the sun to feed the gluttonous idea of a materialistic Christmas. It seems that every year, the lists are longer, the budgets more bloated and still nobody’s any happier than they were the year before. In the process people simply end up over-extending themselves financially (isn’t that what kicked off our recession troubles to begin with?). Knowing full well that we don’t really need anything (or have the space to put any of it) we’ve decided to spend half of what we did on Christmas last year and give the other half to a local charity. I don’t know that it will be a huge hit with our kids, but I think there’s a valuable lesson to be learned. Besides, I kind of thought Uncle Sam needed to lose a few pounds anyway, so I’m really not seeing the need for a big piece of cake.